


the night glows

by demonglass



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Hair Washing, Intimacy, M/M, Seo Changbin is Whipped, changbin is here to support him, hyunjin is a whole baby but that's how it be when ur tired, hyunjin is tired n clingy, kissin, nothing spicy but changbin washes hyunjin's hair, sporty boi hyunjin!, they're just....so in love, very soft narrative
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-17
Updated: 2019-06-17
Packaged: 2020-05-13 15:35:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19254082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demonglass/pseuds/demonglass
Summary: At the end of a grueling volleyball tournament, Hyunjin just needs someone to lean on. Lucky for him, Changbin is always there.





	the night glows

**Author's Note:**

> sup yall i literally wrote this entire thing to dream glow looped for bout four hours straight. like i'm talkin i sat down at 9pm and finished at like 1am and then went to bed and that's that for this fic. a bitch was tired & wanted to write smth soft so here we are. 
> 
> also.. yall know that clip from i think it's a talker?? maybe? from d9 era when hyunjin was sleeping on changbin's lap n changbin was just smiling down at him like the softest mf alive?? yeah that's basically how sweet this is. enjoy!!

A quarter past eight at night. The back seat of Minho’s car. Hyunjin had stripped off his dirty jersey the second he’d finished high-fiving after the last whistle blew, and now the hood of his pullover is soaking up the sweat in his hair so it doesn’t cling to Changbin where he’s resting his head against the older boy. Changbin glances sideways to get a glimpse of Hyunjin’s face; his eyes are closed, his lips slightly parted, his face still shining from sweat, but free of the tense lines that overwhelm it when he’s on the court. His breaths are coming easy now, and Changbin smiles a little.

“Tired?” He asks, although the answer is already clear.

Hyunjin hums and Changbin can feel it in the buzz of Hyunjin’s cheek against his shoulder.

“You played like crazy,” Minho calls back from the driver’s seat. “Almost made me miss volleyball again. But you got there at what, seven? I don’t miss that part.”

Hyunjin smiles lightly, and Changbin knows he’d laugh if he wasn’t dead tired down to his bones. When Minho gets a green light and turns his attention back on the road, Changbin pats Hyunjin’s thigh. “You did play really well,” he murmurs, just for Hyunjin. “It was really fun to watch, even if it was long.”

Hyunjin nuzzles at his neck, smile just a little bit wider now. “Thanks, hyung,” he breathes against Changbin’s skin.

“Now you can sleep until we get to your house.” He rubs Hyunjin’s leg through his sweats, a few reassuring brushes before his hand settles just above Hyunjin’s knee. “I’ll wake you when we get there.”

Hyunjin nods ever so slightly and lets out a deep breath. Changbin can feel him fading, breathing evening out and growing heavy. Some time later, the car jostles a little over a pothole, but Hyunjin remains undisturbed, and Changbin knows he’s all the way out. He turns his head just so to get a better view of Hyunjin, and seeing him like this, wiped out but content and comfortable after a long day, all long tired limbs leaned up against him, Changbin feels a familiar warmth blooming in his chest. 

When he glances up again at a stop sign, Minho is watching him through the rearview mirror, a knowing look on his face. It spreads to a smile when Changbin meets his eyes, then Minho shifts his gaze to the road once more, and the car is quiet until they pull to a stop in front of Hyunjin’s house.

“Hey.” Changbin nudges Hyunjin, “This is us. Time to wake up.”

When Hyunjin barely stirs, Changbin reaches up to brush the hair away from Hyunjin’s face. He knows Minho can see the fond smile on his face, but as he pinches Hyunjin’s cheek lightly, tugs his ear until he finally twitches and starts to rouse, he doesn’t care. “Hey,” he tries again when Hyunjin’s steady breaths stutter and he twists around him. “Let’s get inside, sleepyhead.”

Hyunjin’s eyes blink open slowly, and they find Changbin’s before anything else. “We home?” He asks, voice heavy with sleep.

Changbin nods, turns to open the car door so he can haul Hyunjin out behind him. “Come on.” He steps down onto the pavement and offers a hand out for Hyunjin. Then, aimed at the front seat, “Thanks for driving us, Minho hyung. And for coming with me today.”

“No problem,” Minho waves him off. “Thanks for inviting me.”

Hyunjin takes Changbin’s hand and Changbin focuses on him once more, tightening his grip so he can pull Hyunjin up out of the car. Hyunjin fumbles to his feet, dragging his bag behind him, and promptly deposits half his body weight onto Changbin as he drapes an arm over his shoulder and sags into him. 

Changbin grunts a bit as he catches Hyunjin’s waist in his free hand, but once he’s sure they won’t tip over, twists his head awkwardly to say good night to Minho. Hyunjin knees the car door closed, and Minho waves until they’ve stumbled up to the front door and Changbin has unlocked it with his spare key. As Changbin closes the door behind them, he sees the flash of Minho’s headlights as he drives away.

Hyunjin drops his bag in the threshold, and Changbin sighs. Hyunjin’s mom isn’t going to be thrilled about that in the morning. But then Hyunjin turns so his lips brush lightly against Changbin’s neck and he whispers a soft  _ hyung _ into his skin, and Changbin forgets all about Hyunjin’s mom. He squeezes Hyunjin’s waist lightly in response. A silent,  _ what do you need? _

“I’m tired,” Hyunjin mumbles as Changbin leads them carefully down the hall.

“I know,” Changbin says gently, squeezing again.

“Can we just go to bed?” Hyunjin’s voice is so hopeful Changbin almost wants to say yes. But Hyunjin will be miserable if he goes to bed sweaty and dirty, so Changbin steers them towards the bathroom against Hyunjin’s tired pleas.

“You need to wash up first or everything’ll stink in the morning,” he chides softly. 

Hyunjin drags his feet, but otherwise doesn’t protest as Changbin pushes open the bathroom door and flicks the light on. He pulls Hyunjin’s towel down from its peg on the wall and places it on the counter across from the shower, and is about to remove Hyunjin from his side when all of a sudden Hyunjin tightens his grip and twists in Changbin’s grasp so he can wrap another arm around him. 

“Hyung,” he whines, pulling Changbin closer, “I’m sore.”

Changbin knocks his head lightly against Hyunjin’s and sighs. He must be more tired than Changbin realized. “Okay,” he concedes, “I’ll draw a bath and you can soak for a little bit. Will that help?”

Hyunjin nods and reluctantly lets go of Changbin so he can sweep the curtain to the side and pull the stopper in the shower bath. Changbin starts the water, pours soap into the stream so it’ll bubble up nicely, and shakes in a portion of bath salts because they’re supposed to be good for easing aches. When he turns back to Hyunjin, he’s leaning against the wall, watching Changbin with heavy eyes.

“Well don’t just stand there, dummy,” Changbin says, but there’s no bite to his words. He beckons Hyunjin forward and Hyunjin comes right back to his side. Before he can latch on again though, Changbin reaches up to push the hood off of Hyunjin’s head, then lets his hands rest lightly on either side of Hyunjin’s face for a moment. Hyunjin’s eyes dip and he leans into the touch. When Changbin runs his thumb across Hyunjin’s cheek, he lets out a soft sigh. It is with great reluctance that Changbin draws his hands away, but they can’t stay here all night. “Let’s get you out of these and clean so we can go to bed, yeah?”

Hyunjin nods, but makes no move to actually change, so Changbin undoes the zipper of his sweatshirt for him, tugs it over his shoulders and down his arms and drops it in a pile on the floor. This seems to motivate Hyunjin enough for him to kick off his bottoms and finally step into the tub. He sinks down into the bubbling water, and it sloshes when he leans back against the white shower wall. 

“Hyung?” Hyunjin speaks louder than he has all night to be heard over the sound of the filling tub. 

Changbin steps over the bath mat on the tile floor and sits with his back to the wall, just an inch from the side of the tub. “Yeah?”

“Did I really play well today?” Hyunjin seems focused on the handful of bubbles he’s scooped up, but his voice shakes the slightest bit.

Changbin frowns. “Yes,” he says, certain. “I wasn’t lying.”

Hyunjin tears his eyes away from the soap in his hands and looks at Changbin like he believes him, but needs just a little bit more. “But Coach stopped starting me during the third pool and put in Jeongin instead.”

Changbin can’t stop himself from reaching out to run a finger down the side of Hyunjin’s face, right along his hairline, to catch at his ear. He rubs his thumb in small circles around the lobe, and knows the touch will soothe Hyunjin as much as his words. “Because you were tired, Jinnie. He stopped starting Felix and Eric too. You guys needed to rest. You played straight through those first two pools. You played  _ well _ .”

“Okay,” Hyunjin nods a little, careful not to disrupt Changbin’s fingers, and sets the bubbles back into the water. “Thanks, hyung.”

“Course. Now are you gonna wash your hair or what? It’s still all sweaty, y’know.”

Hyunjin laughs through his nose and sits up to turn off the tap and reach for the shampoo, motions still sluggish with fatigue. Changbin’s hand falls down to the rim of the tub, and when Hyunjin leans back, he places the shampoo right beside it. His chest rises as he takes a deep breath, then submerges himself under the water, dark hair billowing out like spilled oil. The water crawls up the edges of the tub as he goes down, jumps all the way to the rim when he emerges again, hair plastered to his face and neck. 

Hyunjin runs a hand down his face to wipe the water away, then back up to brush his hair out of the way. His skin is steaming from the heat of the water, and Changbin is slightly mesmerised by the sight. When Hyunjin holds a hand out for the shampoo, Changbin tears his eyes away so he can flip the bottle and pour some into Hyunjin’s open palm. 

“Thanks,” Hyunjin murmurs, slathering the shampoo through his hair. The black mop is just starting to turn a frothy white when Hyunjin’s hands still and his face twists into a grimace. “Hyung?” He says, voice hushed as his arms fall away from his head and slip back under the water.

Changbin knows what he’s going to say before the words leave his mouth. “Is it your shoulder?” 

Hyunjin nods, sucks part of his bottom lip into his mouth, and turns pleading eyes on Changbin. “All right,” he agrees even though Hyunjin has yet to ask. “Come here.”

Hyunjin turns so his back is to Changbin, and Changbin is glad he’s in just a tee shirt when he dips his hands into the water to wet them and then slides them into Hyunjin’s thick hair. It’s just like washing his own, except the angle is different, and he’s never been this gentle with his own scalp before. Changbin rubs his fingers in small circles, back and forth through Hyunjin’s hair, pressing his blunt nails lightly against the skin every now and again. Hyunjin tips his head back into Changbin’s hands and sighs as Changbin works, until his hair is foamy with white bubbles and Changbin figures there can’t possibly be any trace of sweat or grime left. Only then does Changbin give his hair one last run through and let him go.

Hyunjin barely moves from his spot, just slides down the edge of the tub, bringing his knees up to his chest so he can slip under the water again. This time he shakes his head, stirs the water until it has pulled the last of the shampoo from his roots and he can come up for air again. As Hyunjin heaves in a breath, Changbin grabs the conditioner and squirts a glob of it into his hand, so that when Hyunjin has settles back into his spot, he can get started right away. 

The conditioner is easier to work into Hyunjin’s hair, and maybe it’s because Changbin overdoes it on the amount, but he knows how Hyunjin likes his hair soft and silky, so he’s not too troubled by it. Again, he runs the pads of his fingers from the top of Hyunjin’s head down to the nape of his neck, over and over again until Hyunjin’s eyes have fallen closed once more. Soft sighs keep slipping from his lips, and Changin can’t help but smile. He ends up combing gently through Hyunjin’s hair much longer than he means to because he simply can’t find it in himself to stop when Hyunjin seems to like it so much. He deserves to be cared for after such a long day of giving everything he has to an effort greater than just himself, and Changbin is happy to be the one Hyunjin comes to for it. 

Finally, when Changbin’s hands are starting to wrinkle from the wetness of the conditioner, he runs them down one last time and lets them settle on either side of Hyunjin’s neck to stroke lightly at the sensitive skin there. “D’you wanna just scrub with a bar of soap and call it a night?” He says softly, aware that Hyunjin is barely keeping himself awake by now.

Hyunjin nods slowly, removes himself from Changbin’s hold even slower, and fumbles for the soap. Once Changbin is sure Hyunjin is actually rubbing it all over his skin, he pushes himself to his feet. Immediately, Hyunjin makes a startled, half-panicked sound. 

“I’m not leaving,” Changbin assures him quickly. “Just brushing my teeth.”

Hyunjin deflates and goes back to scrubbing himself clean, while Changbin plucks his toothbrush out of the holder he shares with Hyunjin. (He tries and fails not to be inexorably pleased that he has his own here). While he brushes his teeth, rinses out his mouth, rummages under the counter for a new pack of flossers, ties back his hair and washes his face, Hyunjin finishes carefully rubbing down every inch of his skin so it smells like fresh linens instead of sweat. As Changbin pats Hyunjin’s moisturizer onto his face, Hyunjin places the bar of soap back where he’d gotten it and starts rinsing the soap off of himself. Changbin returns to the tub just as Hyunjin breaks back up through the water, having combed the conditioner out of his hair. 

“Ready?” Changbin asks, pulling the towel from the counter.

Hyunjin nods, tips forward to open the drain, and clambors to his feet. Water spills down his chest and back, and small splashes in the tub jump out to wet Changbin’s jeans, but he doesn’t care. Hyunjin tangles a hand in the towel to dry it, then places it on Changbin’s shoulder to steady himself as he steps out onto the bath mat. Changbin wraps him up in the towel and then hops onto the counter to make room for Hyunjin to do everything he’s just finished. Except flossing, because that’s a stretch even when Hyunjin isn’t dead tired. When Hyunjin’s done rubbing his face cream sloppily into his skin, Changbin jumps down to the tile again so Hyunjin can lean on him while they make their way into Hyunjin’s room down the hall. This time, however, Changbin’s hand is flat against Hyunjin’s bare back, and Hyunjin’s hair drips into Changbin’s, warm against his skin. They leave the pile of dirty clothes behind without a second thought.

After kicking the door closed behind them, Changbin pulls the drawers of Hyunjin’s dresser open and tosses him a fresh white shirt and a pair of boxers with little pink hearts on them. Hyunjin barely catches them against his chest, but obediently pulls the shirt over his head, untucks the towel so he can slip into the boxers. Before Hyunjin can dump the towel on the floor too, Changbin steps forward to take it from him. When Hyunjin rights himself, Changbin towels down his still-sopping hair, and Hyunjin goes still under his hands, watching him with a small, sleepy smile until he pulls the towel away and tosses it over the back of Hyunjin’s desk chair. 

“Thanks, hyung,” he says softly, reaching forward to catch Changbin’s forearm, sliding his fingers over the exposed skin until he reaches Changbin’s hand and can squeeze it gently. 

Changbin squeezes back, smiles too. “Of course, Hyunjinnie.” He doesn’t know how else to say  _ I would do anything for you _ . “Let’s go to bed now, yeah?”

Hyunjin nods as eagerly as he can, exhausted as he is, and pulls the covers back so he can climb onto the mattress. Before Changbin joins him, he kicks off his jeans and tugs the damp shirt from his back, discarding them both on the floor near the wall. He pulls one more shirt from the open drawer before closing it with his hip: an old muscle tee he’d left last time he was over, which was washed and put away with the rest of Hyunjin’s things. It makes his chest bloom with warmth, not for the first time that night, to find it that way. He pulls it on, flicks off the lights, and picks his way across the room to Hyunjin’s bed. 

“Cm’ere,” Hyunjin mumbles, reaching out for Changbin and tugging him down against the pillows once he catches his hand. 

Changbin pulls the covers up and wraps an arm around Hyunjin, holding him close though he doubts the other boy has any plans to move away. Hyunjin’s hands fist in Changbin’s shirt, and he looks up and Changbin, taking in the sight of him, for a long moment before saying anything. 

“Changbin hyung,” he whispers, watching Changbin closely even in the darkness.

Changbin hums, strokes Hyunjin’s side through his shirt.

“I love you.” Hyunjin’s eyes hold the universe when he says this, familiar and sparkling. Changbin smiles so softly he’d never be able to live it down if he was with anyone else. But he’s not with anyone else. He’s with Hyunjin, and nothing else matters right now.

“Jinnie,” he says quietly, warmth curling through his whole body. “I love you too.” He brings a hand up to cup Hyunjin’s cheek as gently as he would any other precious, beautiful thing. Hyunjin melts under his touch, eyes heavy and lips slightly parted, like he knows what’s coming - because he does. 

Changbin tilts his head down so his nose brushes against Hyunjin’s and presses a light kiss to his lips, so slight that when he moves back, Hyunjin chases him with another. They’re soft, quiet, so sweet Changbin’s heart almost aches, and when Hyunjin finally pulls away to nestle into Changbin’s chest, Changbin can do nothing but curl around him and hold him under the faint moonlight seeping in through the curtains. And as he drifts off not long after Hyunjin, he knows there’s nowhere else in the world he’d rather be than right here, right now. With Hyunjin. 

**Author's Note:**

> hmmm as someone who has been THRU these fucking tourneys i can Confirm that this is pretty much 100% how u feel at the end of those days n i wish i was living this right after them instead of literally falling asleep on the foot of my bed at like 8 without showering. would not recommend. ANYWAY i hope u enjoyed the story lmao


End file.
